November 1 – 11, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday November. 1, 6 – 9 p.m.
GALLERY 1313 Main and Process Gallery
1313 Queen St. W.
Toronto, ON, M6K 1L8
T: 416.536.6778
E: director@g1313.org
www.g1313.org
Hours: Wed – Sun 1 – 6 p.m.
Gallery 1313 is pleased to present Lion Mouse, an exhibition of new paintings by Veronika Szkudlarek.
The paintings in Lion Mouse were made in Szkudlarek’s studios in Brooklyn and Jerusalem. The works included in this exhibition highlight three years of her large abstract oil paintings. Expressed through her praise of color, the paintings are about the process of experimentation. Szkudlarek’s work explores themes of newness and familiarity, conveying some of the ineffable emotions of the foreigner as well as the fears and the exhilaration of the emigrant and traveler.
Szkudlarek’s highly intuitive paintings are made with gestural layers of thin oils and large brushes. The process informs the work and each painting is a discovery of the relationship between the paint and the surface. The transparency or translucency of each pigment is expertly manipulated to create tension and perspective. The paintings are bright and visceral.
The title Lion Mouse is a double entendre. It makes reference to Lev Myshkin, the protagonist of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel ‘The Idiot’. Myshkin is a holy fool, a saintly stranger, who has traveled from afar. He is beautiful but guileless and must navigate through an intricate fabric of foreign expectations. The title also alludes to the contradictions between a fierce lion and a timid mouse, mirroring the artist’s feelings on the process of painting.
For more information about the artist check http://veronikaszkudlarek.com